Ch 4 Anyway (2)

Goliath looked through the doorway at the white room before speaking, "I feel like I need to take a bath before entering." I smiled but didn't turn back around.

"You could use a bath either way." After a pause I walked farther into the room heading to the desk. I wasn't sure if Goliath would stay in the hall or not and almost sighed when he stood tucking his knife away and following me.

With a push on the top of the desk a panel flipped revealing a keyboard. The mirror flickered then changed to display a computer screen. I could still see Goliath in the reflection on the screen and he raised an eyebrow at me as I logged in the old fashioned way. Goliath spun on his heel as the door slid shut. "I closed it from here. Here you will want to read this, it is your cover story." I pulled up a document reader and stood from the chair.

With a weary look at me Goliath leaned over and studied the screen without sitting down. While he studied the screen I noticed the dirty boot prints he had left in the room. They went from the door to my bed and then straight back out, there was a fresher set that went to the desk. Goliath stood up straight again after a few minutes. "Just who are you?"

"The only living heir to a fortune that could buy everything on earth 3 times over. If I die any number of bad ways, wars will start. Which is probably why the Government AI is invested in keeping me alive, but I am not sure. It didn't seem to have the same problem with killing off the rest of my family anyway."

"You are awfully trusting that the system is off, purple."

"Of course I am, green. If it wasn't off, one of my monitors would go off. My house AI is not a normal slave AI. 2-bit probably figured that out when he started cutting her access to his whole hallway. Which reminds me, you have master control access to her. As my personal guard you are expected to protect me. That includes my reputation, though it might look bad if you purge too many files, too often. Private mode protects most data. The rooms can all be put in Private mode and all bathrooms are on an extra protected subnet. There aren't any cameras in the bathrooms either."

Goliath turned to look at me. "You would trust me with that much access? What if I turn control over to the terrorist that want to get rid of all AIs?"

"I would be surprised if my death gave them what they wanted, and I don't have direct access to all my money either. It is too much for any one person. Yet the insurance allowance that I live off of is sizable. So helping to keep me alive might be better for solving the real problems."

"You don't understand why I hate AIs do you?"

I moved over to one of the two doors next to my bed. "I understand, I just don't think dismantling all AIs is a solution. We have grown too numerous to stay on earth and the AIs do most of the heavy lifting that people would be even more upset if they had to do themselves. If you are done reading that you do need a bath."

Goliath's eyes widened just a bit as I opened the door to my private bathroom. "W-with you?"

"Well, you didn't let the maid show you to your room."

"I wanted to be sure you were safe."

"My room wasn't in private mode and I am sure you could have watched my door just as well from the room across the hall. You also need to sleep sometime."

I closed my eyes and stretched as I entered the bathroom. The tile floor was heated and the air system kept the bathroom warmer and just a bit more humid than the rest of the building. There was a full length mirror on the wall across from the door and I watched myself as I moved. The clothes the military had given me matched the cut of my school uniform. They were of rougher material and had none of the built in electronics but it looked almost right. Guess the school uniform was easier than doing the research to pick something I wear when I am not in school.

With a sigh I jumped up on the white marble counter turning to watch Goliath. "I slept in the cell. It was easy they just kept saying the same things. Why are you doing this?"

"You can never have too many good people around you. Shut the door behind you please, green. I remember you telling Ravid that he could add my price to your debt, what is your debt?"

"Nothing I could ever pay back, though you could pay for yourself I guess." Goliath closed the classic looking white door behind him. As he entered the bathroom. He didn't come any nearer to me though and he was watching me much like I would imagine most people watched a snake.

"I wonder what that price tag will be? Of course I am not so sure I am ready to buy myself free of my owner." I tilted my head to the right while watching Goliath for a reaction, my smiled this time wasn't very chased.

"I am beginning to worry about what I have gotten myself into."

"Not just you either, but 2-bit too. I do hope whatever you stole from the school was worth it. Considering the news still hasn't released that anything was stolen it might have been."

Goliath looked around the room and then leaned against the door. So he had caught on that the door was the only way into and out of this room. The only window was above the bathtub and it showed a nighttime seen of a forest, not something you could see from the house. "What do you know of it?"